Luke 13:24-25

13:24 “Exert every effort ¹  to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 13:25 Once ²  the head of the house ³  gets up ⁴  and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, ⁵  let us in!’ ⁶  But he will answer you, ⁷  ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ⁸ 

Luke 13:34-35

13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ⁹  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ¹⁰  How often I have longed ¹¹  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ¹²  you would have none of it! ¹³  13:35 Look, your house is forsaken! ¹⁴  And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” ¹⁵ 

[13:24]  ¹ tn Or “Make every effort” (L&N 68.74; cf. NIV); “Do your best” (TEV); “Work hard” (NLT); Grk “Struggle.” The idea is to exert one’s maximum effort (cf. BDAG 17 s.v. ἀγωνίζομαι 2.b, “strain every nerve to enter”) because of the supreme importance of attaining entry into the kingdom of God.

[13:25]  ² tn The syntactical relationship between vv. 24-25 is disputed. The question turns on whether v. 25 is connected to v. 24 or not. A lack of a clear connective makes an independent idea more likely. However, one must then determine what the beginning of the sentence connects to. Though it makes for slightly awkward English, the translation has opted to connect it to “he will answer” so that this functions, in effect, as an apodosis. One could end the sentence after “us” and begin a new sentence with “He will answer” to make simpler sentences, although the connection between the two sentences is thereby less clear. The point of the passage, however, is clear. Once the door is shut, because one failed to come in through the narrow way, it is closed permanently. The moral: Do not be too late in deciding to respond.

[13:25]  ³ tn Or “the master of the household.”

[13:25]  ⁴ tn Or “rises,” or “stands up.”

[13:25]  ⁵ tn Or “Sir.”

[13:25]  ⁶ tn Grk “Open to us.”

[13:25]  ⁷ tn Grk “and answering, he will say to you.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he will answer you.”

[13:25]  ⁸ sn For the imagery behind the statement “I do not know where you come from,” see Ps 138:6; Isa 63:16; Jer 1:5; Hos 5:3.

[13:34]  ⁹ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

[13:34]  ¹⁰ tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).

[13:34]  ¹¹ sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.

[13:34]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[13:34]  ¹³ tn Grk “you were not willing.”

[13:35]  ¹⁴ sn Your house is forsaken. The language here is from Jer 12:7 and 22:5. It recalls exilic judgment.

[13:35]  ¹⁵ sn A quotation from Ps 118:26. The judgment to come will not be lifted until the Lord returns. See Luke 19:41-44.